Two Broken Men
by Elissa707
Summary: Sirius/Remus, which is slash, meaning M/M, so don't like don't read. One-Shot. Set after Sirius escapes Azkaban. Sirius gets hurt and Remus helps make it better.


**I don't own the characters or the song, they belong to J.K. Rowling and Anne Murray (respectively)**

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I heard a muffled groan and a crash. I jumped immediately out of bed to see Sirius lying at the bottom of the stairs, tangled in his own limbs and a bed sheet. Suppressing a laugh, I quickly went down the steps to kneel next to him and began to untangle him.

"Get off me, Remus. I'm fine. Go away." He groused at me.

"Love, you're at the bottom of the stairs, not in bed anymore. Let me take you back to bed." I said back, releasing one arm and looking for the other. He suddenly moaned in pain and I stopped, worried.

"What hurts, love? What can I do?"

"Everything. Everything fucking hurts you fucking arsehole. Bugger. You know what you can do? Bugger off you fucking buggery… bugger." He attempted to shout but was muffled by either the cloth or his armpit, I couldn't tell which. Since he couldn't see me, I took the opportunity to roll my eyes at his antics and freed his lower half from the sheet. After checking, quite… thoroughly, that he was fine waist down, I went back to unraveling the sheet.

"Why were you walking around wrapped in this sheet, Sirius?" I asked as I worked.

"Because it seemed like such a great fucking idea at the time. Bugger off you sod." He replied. I rolled my eyes again and pulled the sheet off his head, finally. IT seemed rather hard to move this final piece of the sheet, as though it were held in place, but I didn't care, I just wanted to see my husband's face to make sure he was alright. After a moment of shocked silence, I stared at his suddenly changed face. Just a few hours before we had gone to bed, he looked sleepy but otherwise his normal, cheerful self… But now, his face was old, lined and scarred. I reached out a tentative finger and gently traced a scar the crossed over his right eye; it looked like it stopped millimeters away from permanently destroying his eye. His eyes were fidgety and flighty; his skin was gray. He just stared at me, a long pained gaze and I matched it in shock. I dropped my hand into my lap. He finally opened his mouth to speak and said tiredly.

"Did you really think I would leave Azkaban looking exactly as I did when I entered it? It's not called a hell hole for nothing, Remus." Here he looked away from me and sat up. "I've kept up a glamour but when I fell, it surprised me and I dropped it, along with my wand. I was too tangled to crawl over to where my wand is, so I couldn't recast it." I reached out my hand again, to take his, and he flinched away, so I dropped it. Finally I found my voice.

"Why hide from me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from wavering but failing.

He snorted at me and said "Because I was beautiful… Handsome, sexy, whatever you want to call it. Now I'm scarred, bruised, beaten. I can't even look at myself, why would you? I can barely keep my mind together; I'm tired all the time because of that goddamn glamour and I can't fucking sleep because whenever I close my eyes I'm back there. Damnitt Remus, I'm falling apart and I won't have you pitying me!" At that, he wrapped his arms around himself and shut his eyes. It broke my heart to see him, such a proud, strong man, sitting there hugging himself, looking like a kicked puppy.

"Sirius." I started, but then his foot suddenly jumped out and he kicked me.

"Don't even try. I know what you'll say, just don't. Anything you say will sound like a cliché." He replied and I frowned. Thinking a moment, I suddenly smiled to myself then forced it away. Moving over so that I could sit next to him and ignoring it, and the flash of pain, when he moved away from me.

I curled up my knees and hugged them to my chest and with a dramatic sigh, I dropped my head on top. Through my eye lashes I could see his curious, but still overwhelmingly sad, eyes peek out to see what I was doing.

"You're right Sirius, you always are. No one would love a broken, battered man. Particularly one who was covered in scars." Here I lifted my head and tilted it a bit, rotating it as though to crack it but actually showing off my bite marks. Watching him, I saw him stare at the scar before quickly reburying his head.

"It's not the same Remus… I've changed. I can barely sleep. I can't stand crowds and this house… it's so claustrophobic." He said, somewhat muffled by his shirt.

"Ugh, nocturnal people are the worst, I mean it's sooo barbarian. And I am far too much of a social butterfly to live in the country, I NEED to party. The club scene is the ONLY scene for me!" I declared, jumping up and dancing. Well, trying to. It was mostly an odd mix of disco, thrusting, and random limb flailing. Sirius stared at me, not that I blame him, before standing up and shaking his head. He grabbed my hand and jerked me into a slightly-too-tight hug.

"Why do you always know what to do when I'm being stupid?" he asked into my neck, and I felt hot tears dampen my shirt.

"Well, because I love you Sirius. Though you are the only one I would dance for." I replied, bending my taller frame to hug him back.

"Good, because that was dangerous. You almost got me in the face there." He replied, joking even though I could still feel him crying into my neck.

"Yes, it is. Remind me to not do that again, I think I hit myself on the head." I said back. He looked at me, looking significantly less sad, and suddenly smiled that worrisome, doggish smile that used to land us in the hospital wing.

"Well there is one dance that you can do…" he started and I felt his hand slip into my pocket and retrieve my wand. A part of me debated being worried but the rest just reminded that part that this is Sirius and he means well. Usually. Preparing to throw us to the ground should whatever spell he wanted to do backfire; I raised an eyebrow at him. He pecked my lips and silently flourished the wand and I heard the opening notes to a song I knew well. His adjusted his arms around me and I automatically moved mine, and we danced.

_Dreaming  
I must be dreaming  
or am I really lying here with you_

_Baby_  
_You take me in your arms_  
_and though I'm wide awake_  
_I know my dream is coming true_

He rested his head on my shoulder and I hummed along with the song, no longer resisting the urge to tear up at dancing here, with my husband, listening to our wedding song.

_And though I  
Just fall in love again  
Just one touch and then it happens every time  
There I go I  
Just fall in love again  
and when I do  
I can't help myself I fall in love with you_

_Magic  
It must be magic  
The way I hold you and the night just seems to fly_

Easy  
For you to take me to a star  
Heaven is that moment when I look into your eyes

"I love you Remus." He said to me and squeezed me a bit tighter.

"I love you too, Sirius. More and more each day." I replied, holding him close and swearing to myself I would never let go again.

_And though I  
Just fall in love again  
Just one touch and then it happens every time  
There I go I  
Just fall in love again  
and when I do  
I can't help myself I fall in love with you_

I can't help myself I fall in love with you

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

I'm not allowed to link to outside sites, but this song (I just fall in Love Again by Anne Murray) is available on youtube. It's quite pretty and was actually written in 1979, presumably when Remus and Sirius would have gotten married.


End file.
